Quickstrike

Quickstrike is the name given to three fictional characters in the Transformers universes.

Beast Wars

Transformers character
name = Quickstrike


caption = The Predacon Quickstrike
affiliation = Predacon
subgroup = Basic Beasts
Fuzors
function = Desert Combat Expert
rank = 6
partner =
motto =
alternatemodes = Scorpion/Cobra Fuzor
series =Beast Wars
voiceby =Colin Murdock (English)
Nobuo Tobita (Japanese)

Quickstrike is typecast as a typical "western" warrior villain. His beast mode is a scorpion with a cobra for a tail. He uses stereotypical cowboy slang terms, like "Howdy" and "Hombre", and speaks with a strong 'old west' accent. A brief guitar riff (similar to those in old John Wayne movies) can be heard whenever he goes into battle. He often came off as a cartoonish "Old West" gunslinger caricature: "What say we slag us some Maximal keister, pardner?!" (For some odd reason in the Japanese version, his cobra arm/tail/'pet' tends to chant "cobra, cobra".). He's not too bright when it comes to thinking ahead, and will typically just rush into a fight. Despite this, he was a capable combatant. On one occasion he was able to hold his own for a while against the stronger and more experienced Dinobot in a trial by combat. Quickstrike had something of a crush on Blackarachnia (which she exploited by appealing to his ego), calling her "sugar-bot" even after she became a Maximal. He also called Airazor once or twice with that name.

Animated series

eason Two

Quickstrike was one of the protoforms from the Maximal ship called the "Axalon" commanded by Optimus Primal, which chased the Predacon criminal Megatron through Transwarp Space after the theft of the Golden Disk artifact. The "Axalon's" cargo of Maximal protoforms in stasis pods had been launched into orbit around Earth before the crash, but eventually Quickstrike's pod fell to Earth, along with the pod of Silverbolt, after the destruction of the Vok Planet Killer knocked the remaining stasis pods out of their orbits.

Damaged in planetfall, Quickstrike and Silverbolt's pods mixed up the genetic scans of local life forms when formatting them, causing them to emerge in bizarre fused forms. Quickstrike emerged as a bizarre combination of scorpion and cobra, both violent animals frequently seen in westerns, which Quickstrike apparently inherited his violent traits from. Silverbolt and Quickstrike battled first each other, then Inferno, until discovered by Megatron. The Predacon Leader showed them how to transform to robot mode and convinced them they were Predacons. This identity was easily assumed by Quickstrike. While Silverbolt questioned Megatron's orders to attack Maximals while they were severely outnumbered, Quickstrike gained Megatron's favour by displaying genuine disappointment that his orders were to finish them off quickly - he wanted to cripple them and make them suffer.

Quickstrike would for the most part serve as an obedient, if not entirely loyal, Predacon throughout season two and three. He was most often paired with Inferno and Waspinator on missions, though he was paired with Tarantulus a couple of times. He battled Dinobot as his opponent in a trial by combat when Dinobot temporarily defected back to the Predacons. Although Quickstrike put forward a good effort, the stronger and more experienced Dinobot defeated him and promised to make Quickstrike his apprentice in order to train him to be a better warrior. Later, during Megatron's attack on the humans, Quickstrike faced an exhausted, unarmed Dinobot and asked mockingly what a warrior was without his weapons. He received his answer when Dinobot beat him into the ground with nothing but his fists (Dinobot said "A warrior still" before doing this). Later, in the finale, he took part in battle to defend the base from Ravage and the Maximals, and when Ravage switched sides, he took part in the battle to destroy their base. But was ran over and smashed by Rampage.

eason Three

Even though his body was still in pieces in the start of the first episode of the season, his body parts were still alive and were able to put himself together.Then, in the second episode of the season, he was the first Predacon after Rampage to encounter a weakened Depth Charge, gunning him down until blown away by Primal's missiles.

Quickstrike's most notable role then came when he was convinced by Tarantulas to get rid of Megatron for good. Using a cyber-dart created by Tarantulas, the Predacons were able to override control of the body of Optimus Primal. They controlled it using a suit of armor piloted by Quickstrike. Using Optimus to infiltrate the ark, Megatron was able to steal the spark of the original Megatron. Although Tarantulas and Quickstrike attempted to use the opportunity to kill Megatron, the attempt backfired spectacularly and only resulted in the lava aiding Megatron's transformation, allowing him to rise from the pit in a massive new dragon form. As Megatron roasted Tarantulas, Quickstrike had no better luck, with his control suit being toppled by Blackarachnia.

Quickstrike was put on a (very comical) trial by the Predacons for treachery (Tarantulas having nearly been killed by Megatron and since fled). He was saved from being executed by Rampage and the Dinobot clone only by the unanticipated attack by the alien Vok and the arrival of their emissary: Tigerhawk, which resulted in the destruction of the Predacon base.

After the destruction of the "Darkside", Inferno, Quickstrike and Waspinator were sent to establish a new base for the Predacons. They discovered caves settled by the humans, but Waspinator chose that moment to defect from the Predacons and was promptly blown apart by his former teammates. After shooting Waspinator, Inferno and Quickstrike fought against the humans. Unfortunately for them, both were unintentionally killed by the guns of the Decepticon flagship "Nemesis", when Megatron used the ship in an attempt to destroy the human settlement. Quickstrike's remaining parts were used by the humans along with Inferno's remaining parts.

Toys

*Beast Wars Quickstrike (1998):A basic size Fuzor with a water squirter in the cobra head.

*Transformers 3D Battle-Card Game Quickstrike (2007):Produced by Wizards of the Coast, wave 2 of their Transformers 3D Battle-Card Game included a Quickstrike card, who was a redeco of Scorponok from wave 1.

Beast Machines (2000)

Transformers character
name = Quickstrike


caption = The Maximal Quickstrike
affiliation = Maximal
subgroup = Basic Beasts
function = Reconnaissance/Warrior
rank = 7
partner =
motto = "“Robots with courage and character always seem sinister to the rest.”"
alternatemodes = Technorganic Wolf
series = "Beast Machines"
voiceby =

In the "Beast Machines" toyline, Quickstrike is the name of a Maximal who transforms into a technorganic wolf. This character did not appear in the cartoon series. While it seems most likely that this Quickstrike is not the character who originally bore the name in "Beast Wars" (considering his apparent death in the series finale) it should be noted that his bio states that the Maximals do not fully trust him and that he will only work with Blackarachnia, although there is no love lost between him and her. These elements of the character do somewhat resemble the Quickstrike of "Beast Wars", so there remains a strong possibility that they are the same Transformer. Additionally, there was originally an intention to have the heroes of "Beast Machines" be both Maximals and Predacons, with the villains being the Vehicons, but Hasbro didn't want to confuse children by introducing a third faction, so they made all the heroes Maximals. [ [http://www.tfarchive.com/toys/reviews/bm_quickstrike.php TFArchive - Transformers Toys ] ]

3H Enterprises

Although there was no toy of Quickstrike in the "Transformers: Universe" toy line, the character of "Beast Machines" Quickstrike appeared in the "Transformers: Universe" comic book among the Maximals on Cybertron after the end of the events of "Beast Machines".

Transformers: Energon

Transformers character
name = Quickstrike


caption = The Autobot Quickstrike
affiliation = Autobot
subgroup = Mega Vehicles
function =
rank = 8
partner =
motto = "“A solid plan of attack is more powerful than the cannon or sword.”"
alternatemodes = Helicopter
series =
voiceby =

In the "Transformers: Energon" toyline, Quickstrike is the name of an Autobot who transforms into a red helicopter. According to Quickstrike's bio, he and Bulkhead are "cousins" which is merely a reference to them both having identical bodies. This character did not appear in the cartoon series.

His Dreamwave bio would present him as a planner and coordinator of the Autobot's greatest strikes. As such, he is trusted by even Optimus Prime as the premier Autobot strategist, with even Megatron himself putting a price on his head. However, while he is an extraordinary planner, he is much less adept at actually doing the fighting himself. Luckily, his partner Bulkhead is usually around to get him out of trouble.

Dreamwave Productions

Quickstrike's only appearance in Transformers fiction was in issue #27 of the "Transformers: Energon" comic by Dreamwave comics, where he appeared as one of the Autobot warriors who volunteered to head to Earth to battle the Terrorcon invasion.

Toys

*Energon Quickstrike (2004):The toy is a recolor of Bulkhead. He is possibly a homage to Generation 1 Blades. He has a double-barreled spring-loaded missile launcher on each stabilizer wing, plus pulling the trigger on his tailfin activates a gear that spins his rotor blades. Both gimmicks are available in robot mode, though the rotor mechanism becomes a hand-held weapon. :Quickstrike cannot Powerlinx with other Autobot toys; instead, his size-class' gimmick is to Powerlinx with extra parts for form a "brute mode". In this case, Qucikstrike comes with an artillery drone that features electronic light-and-sound action. This drone can attach to the underside of Quickstrike's copter mode to form a sort of thruster pack. In robot mode, it forms a large backpack, with the thrusters unfolding to become large cannon/claw arms. These arms also become legs for the drone's "walker" mode, giving it something to do when not attached to Quickstrike.

References